Fractured Soul: Refining Split Reality

A gameplay concept first seen on DS returns, enhanced, in the 3DS eShop.

By Lucas M. Thomas

Imagine old-school Mega Man. He runs. He jumps. He climbs up ladders, blasts robotic bad guys, and, when he's pinned down by enemy fire, he quickly phase-shifts to a parallel dimension to deftly avoid taking damage.

Oh, wait. Mega Man never did that.

Bouncing back and forth between two overlapping realities is a common occurrence in Endgame Studios' Fractured Soul, though, which layers that extra teleporting mechanic on top of a game design that might otherwise have been mistaken for something created by classic-era Capcom. This game's cybernetic hero has had the fabric of his being ripped in two, as while his body appears in one plane of existence, a shadow of his self stays stuck in a second. Your task is to guide the broken commando through a series of platforming challenges, swapping his "real" body back and forth between the upper and lower 3DS screens to navigate a split-apart environment where safe surfaces to stand on sometimes only exist in one of the two realities.

It's an idea we've seen before. Endgame's designers may well have dreamt it up first – as Fractured Soul's development dates all the way back to 2004 – but this game has suffered such a long and trying road to release that a couple of similar projects have already come and gone in the interim.

Longtime followers of Nintendo's handheld scene will no doubt remember Chronos Twin, a screen-splitting Game Boy Advance project that tasked you to control a character somehow living in both the past and present simultaneously. It dealt with its own delays, but made it out to market eventually as both a DSiWare and WiiWare title in North America in 2010, and even shipped on cartridge in Europe the year before.

And then there was Divergent Shift, another DSiWare title that began life as a student project before Konami picked it up and published it – its take on the "one character, two screens" concept was centered on a girl who accidentally shatters a magic mirror, then must go on a quest to reassemble it. (On the upper screen. Her reflection appeared inverted on the lower screen, and you had to manage both she and it together.)

So Fractured Soul, while still novel, is not entirely original. But that's OK – because it plays better than both those older examples anyway.

This game's design feels like a refinement of the ideas those older projects were just playing at. It captures the tension of confusion that comes about naturally from having to constantly shift your focus back and forth from one screen to another, but Fractured Soul doesn't frustrate nearly as often as those others did. Probably because your character only really exists in one place at a time here, whereas the others made both upper and lower versions of your character "real" at all times.

It's an important distinction. Because your commando's "electric shadow" is simply an intangible placeholder on whichever screen you're not currently looking at, it means you don't have to look at it. It seems an obvious thing to say, but the alternative – having to watch out for incoming enemy fire and stage hazards swooping in to kill two characters on two screens at the same time – just doesn't end up being nearly as much fun. Here, the adventure flows. You rush forward, hit an impassable obstacle, hit the L or R trigger to zap your guy over to the other screen and keep right on rushing forward, often without even having to break your stride.

Endgame's designers have recognized the appeal of the faster flow, too, and built Fractured Soul to reward successful speedrunning. Stars are earned for coming in under each levels' par time, and for tracking down hidden gems along the way, and for not taking damage from any enemies or traps along the way too. It's a simple enough challenge in the game's earliest levels, but once the worlds start altering how strong gravity is on each screen independent of the other, or flipping you upside down to walk on the ceiling, or just launching walls of death lasers straight at you with only fractions of a second to dodge . . . well. Those final stars will be well-earned by those who manage to do so.

Fractured Soul goes live in the 3DS eShop tomorrow in North America for $11.99. The price may seem a bit steep, but this game was bound for retail release at one time and 12 bucks is certainly a lot more affordable than 30 or 40 would have been. If you ever played or were just intrigued by the ideas in Chronos Twin or Divergent Shift, give it a look. If you're an old-school Mega Man fan who'd like to play something similar with an extra, interesting mechanic thrown in, give it a look. And hey, give it a look if you've got a split personality too. That might just help you speedrun your way to the top of the leaderboards.

Oh, and there are leaderboards. So speedrunning experts and glory seekers, yes, give Fractured Soul a look.

Lucas M. Thomas commonly exists in two places at once – his body is here, but his mind is wandering. You can follow him (or try to, at least) on Twitter.